The DISCERN™ test requires a small skin sample from the patient, using our pre-packaged, sterilized testing kit. When done collecting the sample, it gets shipped to our CLIA-certified (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment) laboratory for culturing and testing. The test results are reported back to the healthcare provider.
The Protein Kinase Cε biomarker is expressed in the brain and other tissues and is known to be associated with AD pathophysiology. For this biomarker, a cultured skin specimen is analyzed for levels of PKCε to distinguish AD from the non-AD types of Dementia. AD patients demonstrate a relative deficit in PKCε and show a different response to an A–Beta Oligomer stimulus in non-AD types of Dementia.
A cultured skin sample is stimulated with an extracellular matrix composed of an array of macromolecules, forming networks that are underdeveloped in AD skin fibroblasts.
The rate and extent of network formation can be quantified and is a highly accurate diagnostic biomarker of AD. Biochemical determinants of network formation are similar in many respects to synaptic network formation.
For this biomarker, an inflammatory agonist, bradykinin, a small nano-peptide that induces ErK1 and ErK2 phosphorylation in fibroblasts, stimulates the skin sample. The quantitative imaging of the phosphorylated Erk1 and Erk2 is then used to identify and differentiate AD from non-AD types of Dementia.
If the result shows that the patient has Alzheimer’s Disease, available intervention options may help the patient ease the burden of the disease. If the result rules out AD, the provider may conduct further tests for other types of Dementia.
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